36 responses to “Is Cod Liver Oil Good for You?”

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I’ve been using Arctic Cod Liver Oil from Nordic Naturals for years. I’ve also been giving it to my 7 year old son for years. I’m deeply concerned about the possibility of liver damage due to high levels of A. Are you recommending that we no longer use cod liver or fish oil supplements?

According to the bottle of the Nordic Cod Liver Oil, there is only 650 IU of vitamin A per serving (about 13% of Daily Value). This is no where near toxic levels. I’m assuming that most other common cod liver oils off the shelves are no where near toxic levels either.

“Because vitamin A is fat soluble, the body stores excess amounts,
primarily in the liver, and these levels can accumulate. Although excess preformed vitamin A can have significant toxicity (known as hypervitaminosis A), large amounts of beta-carotene and other provitamin A carotenoids are not associated with major adverse effects”

Upper limits are capped at 3,000 IU’s so consuming 10,000 IU’s of preformed vitamin A is indeed toxic.

10,000 iu is the upper safe level for vit A !! people regularly consume 20 – 50000 iu without issue. Many people can’t convert betacarotene to Vit A & thought to cause cancer in smokers for this reason. Many believe since abandoning organ meats we don’t get enough & rdi should be higher.
It is now known that we don’t convert beta carotene 1 for 1 either.

The safe upper limit is 3,000 not 10,000. People do not regularly consume mass quantities of preformed vitamin A as this would lead to toxicity. Your statements regarding beta carotene are untrue and unsupported. Please share evidence to back your claims.

if distilled=concentrated then perhaps, but distilled=purified to my knowledge, the levels of vit A in fish oil are not toxic. people can consume 10,000 iu with no toxicity.there is a difference between helpful advice and scaremongering- fish oil is the most important supplement today to combat our diets.

“Because vitamin A is fat soluble, the body stores excess amounts,
primarily in the liver, and these levels can accumulate. Although excess preformed vitamin A can have significant toxicity (known as hypervitaminosis A), large amounts of beta-carotene and other provitamin A carotenoids are not associated with major adverse effects”

Upper limits are capped at 3,000 IU’s so consuming 10,000 IU’s of preformed vitamin A is indeed toxic.

If fish oil has no benefit, then why did my triglercerides go way down? When I stopped taking the fish oil, it came way back up again! I started to take fish oil again….my triglycerides went back down! WHY?????

Cod
liver oil contains long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, as well as vitamins D
and A. It was a traditional source of vitamin D in the United States
and was used to prevent and treat rickets. In our clinical research, we
used liquid cod liver oil of adequate purity and acceptable taste for
infants and young children, as well as a children’s multivitamin/mineral
supplement with selenium and other trace metals. In a
cluster-randomized study of pediatric visits for upper respiratory
illness during the winter and early spring, these nutritional
supplements decreased mean visits/subject/month by 36%-58%. Cod liver
oil is culturally valued and has been used as a folk remedy by many
low-income minorities in the United States. Nutritional supplements
cannot be purchased with SNAP benefits (formerly called food stamps).
Inclusion of cod liver oil in state Medicaid formularies would make it
available to low-income children, whose families may not be able to pay
for it out-of-pocket.

Hello Chelsea- I’ve read the article, and it states the Foundations belief that vitamin A toxicity is exaggerated and that taking high amounts of vitamin A is safe as along as it is sourced from whole foods.

Unfortunately, they do not provide peer reviewed, published science to back that claim. I’ve performed a search of peer reviewed, published science on retinol (vitamin A) and the scientific community agrees that vitamin A, above minimal nutritional needs, is proven to be harmful in many ways, particularly to the nervous system. It is not known precisely why vitamin A is toxic, but it has been demonstrated over many years and published in the literature.

There is no scientific, published proof that high levels of vitamin A (above those nutritionally required) as found in cod oil, vitamin A supplements, or any other form is safe, and they are shown to be toxic.